Putting managed care in its place.
Take national data on dealings between doctors and hospitals, segment the numbers by the amount of managed care business, and what do you get? A few surprises. In markets highly penetrated by managed care, for instance, fewer hospitals and health systems had arrangements with doctors in salaried groups than with independent practice associations--just the opposite of what you'd expect. That finding and others come by comparing data from the American Hospital Association's 1996 survey of its members with 1996 market information from InterStudy Publications, Bloomington, Minn. In an exclusive to H&HN, researchers at the AHA's Healthcare InfoSource analyzed a sample of 2,837 hospitals, with 894 falling into high-penetration markets, 1,540 into medium markets, and 403 into the low category. Not surprisingly, higher levels of managed care seem to drive more activity between doctors and hospitals. Here's what they found.
D000573:American Hospital Association; D019058:Community Networks / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003284:Contract Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019981:Health Care Sector / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006754:Hospital Restructuring / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006759:Hospital-Physician Joint Ventures / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018578:Hospital-Physician Relations; D007193:Independent Practice Associations / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010067:Ownership / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011216:Practice Management, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States